PARKERSBURG — With the change in the primary election date, people in Wood County still have time to register to vote and request an absentee ballot.

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice announced Wednesday the state’s primary election is being moved from May 12 to June 9 as coronavirus cases are expected to peak beginning in May. The decision came after the governor met with Secretary of State Mac Warner, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and other officials.

Wood County Clerk Mark Rhodes, the county’s chief election officer, said the new date is a Tuesday and will be after schools are supposed to be closed for the summer, f they resume this school year.

“I talked with the Secretary of State’s office previously (about) if they moved it as we have a number of absentee ballots that have already gone out with the May 12th date,” he said. “They do not have to be reprinted and the absentee ballots that have already been sent out will count.

“We will handle those like everything else that will be coming through.”

If people have already voted their absentee ballots and sent them in, those will count and be tallied in June, Rhodes said.

“We put 226 absentee ballots in the mail (Tuesday) and had 10 that we emailed out for military personnel overseas,” he said. “I want people to understand that those ballots they will be getting in the mail soon are still going to be a good ballot and will still count.

“They can vote it and return it just like they normally would.”

Plans are still in place to mail every registered voter in Wood County an application card to request an absentee ballot.

People who have already requested a ballot, filled out the application card and been approved will still get a ballot.

Rhodes said they are still in the midst of processing those requests. The process might be delayed a few days as officials work to change the date on the primary on the application cards before they go out in the mail. Rhodes expects the new cards to start being sent out the week of April 13.

Deadline to request an absentee ballot is June 3.

“That still gives everyone plenty of time to request the ballot they want,” Rhodes said.

Due to the pandemic people can continue to request an absentee ballot.

The last day to register to vote is now May 19.

With the primary now scheduled for June 6, early voting is now scheduled to run May 27 to June 6.

Right now, the four satellite voting precincts for early voting will be open June 2. Those include Williamstown City Building, 100 West Fifth St.; Vienna City Building, 609 29th St.; Mineral Wells Volunteer Fire Department, 1695 Elizabeth Pike, and Lubeck Volunteer Fire Department, 1340 Harris Highway.

However, if they get closer to the primary and issues arise those could be open earlier if needed. Rhodes said he will make that determination closer to the start of early voting.

In addition to the absentee ballots going out, he also said they will have to alert poll workers to tell them their training will be postponed.

Last month, the Wood County Commission approved the list for 320 poll workers, 136 Democrats and 184 Republicans.

However, since the COVID-19 pandemic has grown and spread, he has only got commitments from about half as some wanted to take a wait-and-see approach to how the pandemic plays out.

“Even delaying it three weeks will be a good thing in this case,” Rhodes said. “All of the predictions and models are telling us right now that we will be past the worst of it by mid-May and we can continue.”

They had many who were waiting to see how things played out and others who did not really want to work, but said they would if the county needed them to.

He is expecting to send out notices to the poll workers sometime today, telling them about the date changes.

“I am hoping that if the numbers of people affected by this start dropping and we are moving in the right direction we can expect people to work,” Rhodes said. “We have a lot of good people who are dedicated.

“We have people who are being cautious as they should be. This is not something to take lightly. They need to be comfortable coming in and comfortable working.”

If poll worker numbers remain an issue, Rhodes said they will look at consolidating voting precincts.

“That is in my contingency,” he said. “We need to see what kind of response we have and the health of everyone involved before we start making those decisions.

“We will make those decisions in enough time to let the voting public know.”

If people have questions, they can call the County Clerk’s Office at 304-424-1850.

Contact Brett Dunlap at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com